LCS: Thoughts After Week 3

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1. TL (6-0)

Every week Liquid demonstrates their superior team play and macro. Liquids bot lane seems to be the best bot lane by far in North America, this allows their dragon control to be amongst the best in the league. In week 3 Liquid demonstrated the abomination of their roster. In day 1 against FLY we saw Doublelifts lane be exploited but was picked up by Jensen in team fights. In day 2 against OPT, the exact opposite happened where Doublelift made up for Jensens lack of mid priority. Those 2 carries paired with Xmithie, Impact, and CoreJJ are unstoppable. The other 3 roles showed that they can consistently play to the peak of their roles with ease, Liquid roster seems to have the perfect recipe with the best mechanical players paired with a world champion shot caller. Liquid still remains undefeated and it doesn’t look like they will be stopped.

2. C9 (4-2)

C9 started off slow but seem to be picking up the speed again. C9 played against TSM and CG in week 3 and achieved the 2-0. They did this by utilizing a dive comp with Galio as its core. C9 has shown that their early game may be slow but the game drastically picks up later in the game with their team fighting and ability to force and pull objectives. Off the backs of Sneaky and Licorice their team fights explode later on the game. C9 has the ability to be a top team and a contender for the title but they need to fix their early game in order to be at the same level they were at the World Championship. If Nisqy and C9 can find their identity they might be able to contend for the title.

3. 100 (3-3)

100 Thieves finally managed to play to their strengths and core of their roster. Off the back of Ssumday they translated their top leads and pressure into the latter half of the game. With Ssumday back in form this allows Huhi to roam around the map and utilize the strengths of that he was signed for. In both games in week 3 100 Thieves accumulated a tremendous gold lead but found trouble closing out the game. 100 Thieves ended up closing their games with the 2 new pickups in Huhi and Bang. The 2 players are finally being used for their strengths with Huhi roaming early to mid-game and making plays and flanks in the team fights while Bang is the late game team fighting insurance they needed. Looking to later weeks 100 Thieves need to fix their late game closing and their season can have a 180 degree turn.

(-) CLG (3-3)

CLG comes off of a 1-1 week against FOX and 100. Ever since this team has changed their identity, they have improved a lot. CLG shifted Support player Biofrost to the shot caller position and also drafting for late game team fight comps with a strong mid bot duo and late game tank. Coming into the season rookie jungler Wiggly was one of the most hyped up rookies amongst many analysts, he needs to prove himself but his future is looking bright. The twins POE and Stixxay seem to be pivotal to their recent success with their mechanical and team fighting instincts. With CLG drafting late game comps with a strong core of POE and Stixxay, they look to have a bright future.

(-) FOX (3-3)

The Rush 0-2 curse still remains. After years of playing in the competitive scene Rush has never gone 0-2 in a week. Fox still remains in top 3 after the rough week 3 against CLG and FLY. With Rush coming back to NA he still hasn’t found the same success as his MVP years. The top/jungle duo in Rush and Solo seem to be very exploitable, with rush missing most of his contested smites. The bright parts of FOX seem to be the consistent 3 roles in mid bot and support. Those 3 roles seem to be a rock of the team that keeps them afloat. FOX seem to find most of their struggles in the early game with most of their lack of play making. Going into week 4 FOX needs to fix their early game with pressure from Rush or else they are still going to struggle throughout the season

(-) FLY (3-3)

After a strong start to the season going 3-1 in the first 2 weeks, FLY started to crumble going 0-2 in week 3. FLY struggles throughout midgame after securing pretty big early leads. In both games against FOX and TL they acquired pretty substantial early leads with the mid/jungle duo in Pobelter and Santorin. Their problem lies in translating those early leads into mid game. Against TL they threw their lead in a mid-game team fight where Turtle went to aggressive, while against FOX they threw at baron where they were 2v5ed by FOX’s Apollo and Fenix. Pobelter is the rock of the team while rookie Viper is still trying to find an identity. Hopefully FLY can bounce back from an 0-2 week and make another run to the top of the standings.

7. TSM (2-4)

The veteran organization still seems to struggle after a year of revamping their roster. With rookie BrokenBlade still not proven himself to be at the level TSM needs, TSM looks to their star mid/bot duo in Bjergsen and Zven. Bjergsen is still the rock of the team, but Zven seems to be severely underperforming when not put onto Ezreal. TSM’s weakness still stem from the same problem they have had ever since they released Doublelift, they are hesitant to make plays and want to play the game too slow. It doesn’t help when TSM has struggles finding the right jungler to make up for their weakness. TSM really needs an x-factor, BrokenBlade could be that player but his strengths aren’t being utilized. BrokenBlade made his name playing carries like Irelia, Camille, etc. TSM has to fix the everlasting problem if they want to be the kings of NA again.

(-) Clutch (2-4)

Clutch was the 50/50 team coming into the split. This roster is made up of players who has been on top at one point in their career. After starting the season out strong going 2-0 in the first week, Clutch has since lost 4 in a row. In week 3 against 100 and C9 they struggled massively in top pressure. In the game against 100, a failed dive turned into a double kill. Against C9, Huni was solo killed by Licorice. Their strong point seems to be unclear, the only bright side to the team is the mechanics of their star players, but it seems that their team play just isn’t there.

(-) OPT (2-4)

Optic finally showed their main roster, but it didn’t seem to go as planned. After a 0-2 week 3 against GGS and TL it is clear that the team still needs time to mesh together. It was very clear in their games that team coordination wasn’t quite there. The only shining light of this team so far is their mid laner Crown. After a rough year in the LCK Crown came to NA to reset his career. Crown was the only player that was never subbed out of the OPT roster this year. If OPT wants to find success they need play more as a team. Their main roster sometimes looks just like a solo q game. They had a glimpse of hope against TL with their early game, but it seemed they got the lead off of mechanics rather than team play.

(-) GGS (2-4)

After starting off the season 0-4 it looked like the same old GGS. Even with the huge roster changes with many players who have found domestic success, they still seemed like the same GGS. Before week 3 teams saw them as the worst, but they came out swinging. In week 3 they went 2-0 against TSM and OPT. They finally are able to find success after a rough start with Froggen’s unorthodox pick in Karthus. GGS showed that they can be a scary team during the mid game with their star studded roster. With Froggen farming for 30 minutes and Deftly playing really well, this team has a really strong late game. Also, they have showed that they arent afraid to make risky plays, this is really good for a team aslong as they are on the same page. If they can fix their early game and synergy they can become a top 6 team easily.

Not a student of your school, however a great article! I’m a huge fan of the LCS and esports scene. Excellent expression of thoughts on how the first 3 weeks have gone. Go Liquid!

Krillin on
February 14th, 2019 1:51 am

Great article. It really depicts how each team’s composition and player can significantly influence the outcome of the matches. I’m interested in reading more about how champions and play style may effect the matches currently and whether meta champs are actually the say to go.